The employment laws that apply to your business depend on several factors, including where your employees work, how many employees you have, and sometimes the location of your business.
Employers in New Jersey and New York may be subject to federal, state, and local requirements involving minimum wage and overtime, paid sick leave and other leave laws, discrimination and harassment, employee accommodations, hiring practices, and other workplace issues. As your business grows, additional laws may also begin to apply.
Our Major Employment Laws by Employer Size provides an overview of many of the requirements that may apply to your business. Because employment laws change and the requirements that apply to each employer can differ, understanding which laws apply to your particular workforce is an important part of managing employment law risk.
An employment attorney can help you identify potential risks, understand your legal obligations, and make informed decisions before employee issues become more difficult and expensive to resolve.
That can include developing employee handbooks and workplace policies, preparing employment agreements, reviewing pay practices, and providing guidance on hiring, leave and accommodations, discipline, performance issues, and terminations. An employment attorney can also help you recognize when a seemingly routine employee issue may create legal risk before you decide how to handle it.
Not every employee problem can be prevented. But having the right guidance before important decisions are made can give you more options, reduce unnecessary risk, and help you manage your workforce with greater confidence.
HR and payroll companies can be valuable resources for managing payroll, benefits, HR processes, and other workplace responsibilities. But their role is different from that of an employment attorney.
An employment attorney provides legal advice about the laws that apply to your business and helps you evaluate the legal risks and options involved in important employment decisions. That can become particularly important when dealing with issues such as employee accommodations, leave, wage and hour questions, discipline, terminations, complaints, or potential claims.
The two can complement each other. Your HR or payroll provider can help manage many of the day-to-day processes involved in running your workforce, while employment counsel can provide legal guidance when a decision or situation creates legal questions or risk.
Misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor can create significant financial and legal exposure for a business. Depending on the circumstances, an employer may face liability for unpaid wages and overtime, payroll taxes, unemployment and workers’ compensation obligations, benefits, interest, fines, and other penalties.
Applicable law determines whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, not what the business and worker call the relationship or what an agreement says. Different laws may also use different tests when determining a worker’s status.
Our Employee vs. Independent Contractor Classification Workbook can help you better understand the factors involved in worker classification. When the answer is unclear, reviewing the relationship before making a classification decision can be much easier than addressing a misclassification after a complaint, audit, or claim.
An employee handbook can be a key part of your workforce management foundation, even if your business has only a few employees.
A well-drafted handbook does more than explain workplace rules. It sets clear expectations, guides managers on common employee issues, supports more consistent employment decisions, and includes policies required by the laws that apply to your business.
Just as important, a handbook should reflect how your business actually operates and the laws that currently apply to it. As your business grows, your practices change, or employment laws change, your handbook may need to change too.
For many small businesses, putting the right policies in place early is easier than establishing them after an employee issue has already exposed a gap.
A workplace investigation may be necessary when an employer receives a complaint or becomes aware of conduct that could violate the law or company policy. Common examples include allegations of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, workplace misconduct, theft, or other serious policy violations.
The appropriate response depends on the nature of the allegations and the circumstances. When an investigation is warranted, it should be prompt, impartial, and thorough enough to allow the employer to understand what happened and make an informed decision about how to respond.
How an employer handles a complaint can become important if the matter later develops into an agency charge or lawsuit. For sensitive or complex matters, involving employment counsel early can help the employer determine the appropriate investigation process and address potential legal issues before making important decisions.
No business can eliminate the possibility of an employee claim or lawsuit, but employers can take practical steps to reduce their risk and put themselves in a stronger position if a claim does arise.
That starts with understanding the employment laws that apply to your business, maintaining current policies and employment practices, training managers, documenting important employment decisions, and getting legal guidance before making decisions that may create significant risk.
It is also important to periodically review your practices for issues you may not realize are there. Employment laws change, businesses grow, and workplace practices evolve over time. What worked for your business several years ago may not be appropriate today.
Being proactive cannot prevent every employee claim, but it can give you more options, help you make better informed decisions, and put your business in a stronger position if those decisions are later challenged.
If the Department of Labor contacts your business about a complaint, investigation, or audit, take the matter seriously and understand what the agency is requesting before you respond. Avoid rushing to provide documents, explanations, or information without first understanding the scope of the inquiry and the potential issues involved.
A Department of Labor matter may involve wages and overtime, employee classification, payroll records, or other employment practices. Employment counsel can help you evaluate the agency’s request, identify potential areas of exposure, prepare an appropriate response, and guide you through the investigation or audit process.
Our Audit Survival Checklist provides practical steps to help you prepare for and respond to a government audit or investigation.
The leave laws that apply to your employees depend on several factors, including the size of your business, where your employees work, the reason for the leave, and the employee’s eligibility under applicable law.
Depending on the circumstances, New Jersey and New York employers may need to consider the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), state family and medical leave requirements, paid sick leave laws, disability and paid family leave programs, and other federal, state, or local requirements. In some situations, more than one law may apply to the same absence.
The challenge is not simply knowing that these laws exist. It is understanding which requirements apply to a particular employee and how they interact. Getting that analysis right before responding to a leave request can help you make an informed decision and avoid creating unnecessary risk.
Effective performance management should give employees clear expectations, timely feedback, and an accurate understanding of how they are performing. We generally recommend that employers conduct formal performance reviews at least annually, with quarterly reviews providing an even better cadence for regularly addressing performance, goals, and expectations.
Employers should not, however, wait for a scheduled review to address a significant performance problem. Concerns should be addressed when they occur, performance standards should be applied consistently, and significant issues and the steps taken to address them should be documented.
Documentation is particularly important when performance issues may lead to discipline or termination. A common problem arises when an employer has serious concerns about an employee’s performance, but the employee’s reviews and personnel records do not reflect those concerns. That inconsistency can make an employment decision more difficult to explain and defend if it is later challenged.
Regular reviews, combined with timely feedback between reviews, create a stronger performance management process and help ensure that employees and managers have a consistent understanding of where things stand.